Awkard Reunion and (Stolen) Secrets
A/N - Getting toward where we're going and some cheap laughs at Tsugumi and Shu's expense.
Disclaimer ... Still not mine... Regrettably so...
"Hey Shu... Umm.. I know it's been a long time. I found something that you need to hear... Can you umm. Come over?" The young hacker sped through the words, as if trying to not to say anything, but still imply a sense of severity.
"Umm sure, I'll be there in about an hour." Shu replied as he hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" Inori asked, frustration was dripping from each word.
"Tsugumi , she sounded... Like it was urgent, we should go." Shu replied to the girl that was still in his arms.
Tokyo Main Line Route 46 Train : 1405 hours Saturday November 1 2042
The young couple stood on the crowded rail car as it sped toward the stop that Shu had indicated was the closest to the shared apartment of Tsugumi and Ayase. Inori had zoned out, staring out the window watching as buildings sped by. To say she was frustrated would have been an understatement, she didn't truly understand the emotions she was feeling but they were certainly there. What was Shu going to say? Why had he hid that from her? What happened to him in the three years they were apart? These were all questions that were running through her mind, she craved information that would answer them as if it was the air she was breathing.
Shu also stood mostly in silence, the weight of everything that had happened was finally starting to lift from his shoulders and he felt as if he could relax a little bit. Despite the odd events, Shu believed Inori to be at least mostly correct in her presumption about GHQ. He felt that there would , at least for the time being, not be further confrontation with them. Why, that was something he couldn't answer. More interestingly, Inori's behavior had begun changing, slowly at first but today much more drastically. They had always shared an understanding that one sort of belonged to the other, but that had held no surprise. Today their relationship had seemed more lively, less was taken for granted, it just felt more... Honest.
"Shu..." Inori perked up slightly, diverting her attention from the window back to the brown haired boy standing next to her. "... What did Miss Kobayashi mean when she said people blamed you?"
Another question he didn't want to answer, though he suspected there would be many more. After all, Inori had been out of the loop for nearly 4 years. "After the incident... A lot of people held a grudge against me..." He replied somberly.
"Why?" Inori was confused, why would they be mad at Shu? After all wasn't he the one who saved them?
"People blame whoever they can. It's not like the UN or GHQ or even Sephirah were going to take credit for what happened. I had a face they could pin blame on." Shu elaborated.
"Oh.. So what happened?" Inori asked, looking back out the window.
"You know, the typical stuff. Death threats, harassment, I even got attacked a few times...Nothing too major." Shu laughed trying to make light of the clearly uncomfortable situation.
'Nothing major...' She hadn't wanted this for him. She wanted him to have peace, the kind that she had at the end. 'Perhaps that is why I'm here.' She pondered. "It's going to be okay now." She said quietly. "I'm sure of it."
"This stop is ours." Shu pointed to the train station ahead, ignoring Inori's attempt at reassurance. Not that he wasn't grateful, he just preferred to have let the past been what it was the past.
The two exited the train shortly after it reached the stop and fell into an easy, but awkward stride. Inori was a step behind Shu, not really knowing where she was headed, she let him lead the way. Still the unanswered questions bothered her as they strode down the busy Tokyo sidewalk.
"It's not far." Shu said evasively, he knew full well Inori had more questions.
The girl simply nodded in understanding as they quickened their pace slightly.
Ayase and Tsugumi's Apartment : 1512 hours Saturday November 1 2042
"Well here we are!" Shu exclaimed standing in front of the doorway. This apartment was unlike his, it was a classy high rise building with all the latest amenities. Ayase and Tsugumi had done well for themselves mostly due to Tsugumi's inventive nature. They had created and marketed a distributed information system similar to the one used during the communication blackout during the blockade of the 14th ward. On top of that Tsugumi was an avid software developer who had frequently dabbled in projects relating to artificial intelligence, no doubt inspired by her own experiences with Funell.
Inori however, was not as excited to be there. She felt awkward, after all, how was she to explain her existence. Neither Ayase nor Tsugumi took things in stride like Shu did, and there would likely be the need for great exposition on the happenings leading up to her appearance. Regardless, Shu knocked lightly on the door to signal their arrival. Inori instinctively sunk back, just out of view of whomever would open the door.
"Shu?" Tsugumi's voice came from inside the apartment
"Yeah." Shu replied.
"Oh okay one second I'll be right there." She replied heartily.
Moments later the door slid open and Tsugumi greeted Shu. "Hey come in.. Wait... Where's your cane?" The girl started turning red.
Shu was so interested in finding out why Tsugumi had called him he hardly noticed that the girl standing before him was wearing nothing but lacy pink underwear. In the past this wouldn't have been an issue but given the recent events and the return of his sight he could see why there was cause for concern. Unfortunately, Shu, despite his many endearing character traits was undeniably a member of the male sex and his gaze was immediately drawn to Tsugumi's assets, which while nice did not rival her monetary assets in splendor.
Tsugumi could feel her face heating up as the sudden realization dawned on her. "Shu! You pervert!" She screamed, lamely attempting to cover herself.
"I... I'm sorry..." He muttered barely audibly.
"Wait a second! I'll be right back." She replied sheepishly as she let the door close.
'So it's already happened.' She thought to herself as she ran to fetch clothing for herself.
"I told you that it was normal attire Shu." Inori mocked, she had not partaken in the exchange but found it amusing nonetheless.
"Normally, I wouldn't have even noticed." He replied pointing at his eyes.
"Did seeing her dressed like that make you wish to have sex with her?" Inori asked curiously.
"No! I think we're going to have to revisit that conversation at some point." Shu tried to push back on the question as much as possible. However it was too late Tsugumi had once again opened the door and was gawking at the two lovers.
"Ummm..." The younger girl's jaw was practically on the floor, she had no response for any of this.
"Oh – Tsugumi... So what was it you wanted to tell me?" Shu tried ineffectively to change the subject.
"You can see, an ability that you are presumably enjoying... And Inori is standing here... So I guess nothing!" She said out of frustration. Her find as she had been calling it to Ayase had already been found. "Well you might as well come in since you're already here."
The three made their way into the lavishly decorated apartment and toward the living room. "So Shu... What have you two been up to lately?" Tsugumi chided the boy.
"So, I see you've found Inori, and I see that you must have also found Haruka because you've taken the Genome enhancement thing, that's how you got your sight back." Tsugumi continued on.
"Umm.. How did you know about any of that?" Shu questioned, wondering exactly how Tsugumi had become privy to any of this information.
"Oh! It's all right here Shu." She added as she plopped on the couch showing the boy her computer screen. "You see, I have this little habit, you know left over from Funeral Parlor. I like to check out Sephirah and GHQ computer systems when I get the time." She snorted slightly as she laughed victoriously. "Well I found one, I thought it was just some random workstation somewhere and it ended up being just that. However, it belonged to someone relatively high up in Sephirah because I found what appeared to be a journal of events. Events that explain the situation that you're in right now."
"I see..." Shu said before falling silent indicating that he wished Tsugumi to continue.
"Well – like I said, you know everything I do. I was only able to get up to Day 55 of the log file before they caught me and kicked me out of their network." She sounded almost defeated. "I do know that they were going to try to kill you."
"Hmm, thanks. But why did you wait until today to call me?" Shu asked, truly curious as to the reason.
"They must have been jamming your phone at the cell provider. I've been calling you non-stop since I read this. So has Ayase!" Tsugumi protested. "You know... I was really worried about you Shu!" She added leaning gently against the boy that was sitting on the couch next to her.
Inori wasn't sure why, but she was rather unhappy with that. A strange feeling flared up in the pit of her stomach at seeing the cordial interaction between the two. It became an even more violent reaction when Tsugumi got closer to him.
"You know after all that's happened, we don't want to risk losing you again." Tsugumi added sadly.
"Ahh well that's okay I'll be fine." Shu replied to the concern awkwardly. He hadn't told Inori about that incident yet and wasn't looking forward to explaining it.
"Shu... What happened?" Inori had known that he had been hiding something about the past three years, but she wasn't sure what.
"Oh dear. You didn't tell her yet did you?" Tsugumi asked sheepishly. "Well... Since it seems we're going to be here a while I guess I'll go make tea. Ayane should also be home soon."
"Haven't told me what Shu?" Inori seemed almost bitter with the question.
"Well I did tell you, I had some problems – it wasn't a big deal." Shu said with an unenthusiastic tone in his voice.
"It wasn't a big deal? You almost died Shu!" Another familiar voice came from the entrance to the living room, it was Ayase, who had at some point entered the home. "Oh and hi, it's really good to see you again. How come you never call?"
'Almost died? Not a big deal?' Inori was confused.
"I... Don't know..." Shu responded glumly.
"No worries, you're here now." Ayase said cheerily as she made her way into the living room deftly navigating her wheelchair through the obstacles created by the expensive furniture that was placed strategically around the apartment. "Inori... Welcome back" Ayase smiled at the girl who had been standing awkwardly the entire time. "Sit down, make yourself at home."
"Why did you almost die Shu?" Inori questioned as she took a seat on the plush sofa beside Shu.
"Well... Umm..." Shu didn't know how to admit it, he was ashamed of his actions. It was a low point, even for him, where low was pretty normal.
"I can... If you want Shu." Ayase offered reassuringly. Shu's nod gave her the go ahead to spill the news. "After everything happened, Shu had some problems with depression." Ayase choked slightly on the words as she tried to hold back her tears. "He was getting help for it, but... It didn't really work, the doctors couldn't even begin to treat the kind of issues he was dealing with." Ayase paused for a moment.
"I don't understand." Inori had a puzzled look on her face.
"I tried to kill myself Inori." Shu finished the thought bluntly.
"He hadn't been in touch in days. We were all very close back then. Ayane went looking for him and found him in his apartment." Tsugumi added as she returned with tea. "Anyway, it appears that our Shu is doing much better now and that was a long time ago." She was attempting to bring levity to the situation.
Shu was rapidly becoming uneasy awaiting Inori's response to all of this. In truth he just wanted to escape the situation. As Tsugumi had said, it had been a long time ago, and he had no intention of repeating the incident.
"Shu..." Inori wasn't sure what say. Instead she just reached for his hand and eventually intertwining her fingers in his.
"Yahiro's gone." Shu admitted, thankful for the opportunity for a change of subject. "He was apparently in GHQ employ and attempted to kill us. He succeeded in killing Haruka." Shu let the news break as if it were a weather report.
The room fell silent. Both Ayase and Tsugumi were surprised at his confession, they knew that Yahiro had harbored aggression toward Shu, but never that much.
"That's unfortunate." Ayase added. She knew it had been Shu that killed the man. She had seen what he was capable of first hand. "Are you both okay?" She offered her concern.
Inori nodded as she realized that three years had apparently changed quite a bit. Her better understanding of Shu's past made it more clear exactly why and how he had behaved as he had the past few days. She also couldn't help but wonder if the state of his depression was linked to her death, as temporary as it may have been.
"So Shu... I'll keep digging and see if I can find anymore of this file." Tsugumi chimed in breaking the silence. "I think, judging from what I've read thus far, they will probably leave you alone for a while anyway. I'm not sure, there is a lot of technical crap in here that doesn't mean anything to me, so I can't say for certain."
"Where are you staying?" Ayase questioned the two.
"We're staying out in the country, where I grew up." Shu added.
"Ah, and do you have everything you need?" Ayase followed up, eying the plain jeans and t-shirt that Inori was wearing. It clearly belonged to a woman with a much fuller figure than Inori.
"I need to go shopping." Inori replied picking up that Ayase had noticed that she was clearly wearing a dead woman's clothing.
"Of course. I can take you if you want. Shu you don't mind do you?" Ayase asked cheerfully.
"I'll just stay here with Tsugumi I guess." He replied, clearly not interested in going shopping with two women.
"Shu... Are you sure?" Inori sounded worried, in fact she was not quite sure about leaving Shu and Tsugumi alone. The exact reasoning however, still eluded her.
"Yes, I'll be here when you get back." He replied giving her hand, which was still tangled in his own, a slight squeeze of reassurance.